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Former D-back Cabrera refutes Report

Former D-back Cabrera denies steroid use

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Associated Press |

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Former Arizona Diamondbacks player Alex Cabrera on Saturday denied ever using steroids after his name appeared in the Mitchell Report.

The report chronicles the discovery of a bottle containing steroids in the Diamondbacks clubhouse in September 2000. A clubhouse employee found the bottle and several hundred pills in a package that had been mailed to Cabrera, according to the report.

"I couldn't have used the substances that are identified," Cabrera said. "I never had possession of the alleged box that supposedly contained the pharmaceutical drugs."

Cabrera made his denial on the Web site of the Caracas Lions, his winter league team in Venezuela. He could not be reached for comment.

The substances were sent to the commissioner's office by then-general manager Joe Garagiola Jr., and later passed on to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to be analyzed.

The bottle contained stanozol, an injectable form of steroids, and the pills were over-the-counter diet pills, according to the report. By the time the tests were completed, Cabrera's contract had been sold to the Seibu Lions of the Japan League, the report said.

Cabrera, who played outfield and first base in his one season with the Diamondbacks, hinted in his statement he was a scapegoat.

"It was easier to suggest that a recently acquired rookie whose contract had been sold to Japan was responsible for the phantom box, which I never saw," he said.

"Those who have followed my career can see that my physique has not changed since my days as a rookie and my performance has improved as a result of hard work in the gym and on the field," he added.

Cabrera was among more than 80 current and retired players identified in Thursday's report by former Sen. George Mitchell.